Process of carbonizing.



10.744,667; l PATBNTBD Nov. 1v, 1903.

' 13. ZWILLINGBR. PRooBss 0F cuomzlm- .A-PILIOATION FILED ITB. 28. 1801.BENEWED JUNE 5,-1903. l

:No Holm.. I sums-SHEET i..

un E I: g INVENTOR f A 'l wnNgssES; BY vMmmm/S No. 744.667.' lPA'I'ENTEDNOV. 17. 1903. B. ZWILLINGER. PROCESS 0Fl lGARBOIIIZIIIGl N0 MODEL.

PATENm-:D Nov. 17, i906;

B. ZWILLLNGER.

l PROCESS 0F (.LARBOIIZINGl APPLIoATIroN FILED rma. 2a. 190;. Bmmwm JUNE@1903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

mvENToR f. 6MM ,.f

" ATTORNEYS NrTED 'STATES Patented November 17, v1903.

'PATENT'v OFFICE.

BERNHARDv ZwrLLrNGER, on Nvv YORK, N. Y., A ssIeNoR, BY vMESNE'AssIGNMENTs, To AMERICAN .FUEL AND DrsrILLATIoN COMPANY, A

CORPORATION ,OF JERSEY.

' fPRoC'EsSS oF CARsoNizlNG.

sREcIRIcA'rIoN forming per't of Lettere Patent No. 744,667, datedNovember 17, 1903'. Application itiled February 2 8, 1901. Renewed June5,1903.. Serial No. 160,263. r(No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, BERNHARD ZwrLLINGER, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, inthecounty vand State of NewYork, have invented a new and Improved Processof Carbonizing, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exactdescription.`

My invention relates to a process of carbonizing material, such as wood,and has for its object to produce a thorough and even carbonization ofthe material and to'obtain the greatest possible yield of by-products.

My invention has for its further object to produce the carbonization andthe cooling of the carbonizedmaterial more quickly than heretofore. j

The `apparatus shown and described in the present application isclaimed'in another application Vfor patent led by me in theUnited States`Patent Office on February 28, 1901,

Serial No. 49,282. Intheaccompanyiugdrawingslhaveshown as an example anapparatus suitable for carrying out my invention, itbeingV understoodthat I do not desire to limit myself to the use of the constructionshown nor,'in fact, to any particular construction.

In the drawings, Figure lis a sectional elevation of an apparatus forcarrying out my process. Fig. 1a is a detail sectional view of aninjector forming'part of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation,upon`an enlarged scale, taken through the kiln and the heater for thegases substantially o n line 2 2 of Fig. 3 and looking in the directionopposite to that in which Fig. lis taken. Figs. 3 and 3a are sectionalplans of the structure shown in Fig. 2, taken on the lines 3 3 and 3a3a, respectively, of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is au enlarged detail planiviewofthe connectionsl intervening between the kiln and theheater for thegases; and Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4, showing themeans for cooling down the conduit intervening between the heater andthe kiln for the purpose of cooling down the charge after carbonizationhas been effected.

In the drawings, A represents a suitable air-compressor, which ispreferably connected vin which there may be arranged a draft debypipingB with an accumulator C, in which the atmospheric air and thepermanent gases are thoroughly coulmingled. One branch of the pipe B'enters thelower part of the accumulator C, and the other Ibranchcommuni- "Cates withan injector J. D is the heater municates withasuitable hydraulic main G,

from which a" pipe leadsto a condenser H, providedwithan outlet-pipe c',leading to one or more vessels I in the nature of Wulff bottles. Fromthese vessels or tanks a suitable pipe j leads back to the injector J,having its outlet lc connected with the accumulatorO. This injector,which may be of any suitable construction, preferably consists of anouter casing l,`l1aving an outlet 2, connected with the outlet-pipe k,an inlet 3 vfor the permanent gases, and an inlet 4 for the air or otherliuid supplied from the compressor A. This injector, which is preferablyof the ordinary Korting type shown, Vis provided with the usualinjecting elements 5.

The heater D is preferably constructed as shown inthe drawings, althoughthis is not essential. This heater consists of an ordinary furnace ortire-box d', which discharges its smoke and products of combustion through a rearwardly-projecting due d2, thence upward through a flue d3,forward through a Hue d4, upward throughailue d5, and finally rearwardand downward through a iue d6. It will ofcourse be understood that thereare several of these chambers or flues, which communicate, respectively,with the iiues (Z7, intervening between the heater D and the kiln F,said Vpassages being connected with iiues d8, arranged beneath the kilnand' connectedat their outlet ends with a stack d1,

vice, such as a steam or gas jet nozzle f3. Intervening between thechambers or flues d2 and Z4 and between the lines d4 and d6 are 'lioorsor partitions Z9 d10, within which are roo f i i 744,66*?

placed coils of piping du. It will be understood that the air andpermanent gases which pass from the accumulator traverse the coils ofpiping d and become highly heated.

By reference to Figs. 4E and 5 it will be observed that the passages oriiues (Z7 between the heater D and the kiln F are provided withremovable plates C312, which may be lifted up at the end of thecarbonizing process, so as to prevent the products of combustion fromthe heater D from passing through the fines d8, so that the kilnwillcool down much more rapidly owing to the passage of cool air throughthe flues d8, the draft for this purpose b'eing obtained or at leastincreased by the use of a steam-jet f3 or its equivalent.

The kiln, which is best shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 3, may be of anysuitable construction; but preferably it is of circular shape.Communicating with the drum fin the kiln is a pipe f', which runs aroundthe entire kiln on the tioor thereof and is provided with perforatedbranch pipes f2, which extend from the Wall of the kiln to 0r about thecenter thereof, the said pipes being preferably placed radially withrespect to the circumference of the kiln. The function of these pipes isto thoroughly distribute the mixture of air and permanent gasesthroughout the charge contained in the kiln. The stack d1, with orWithout the draft appliancefg, secures a rapid removal of the productsof combustion from the heater D.'

Before describing the detailed operation of the apparatus I will firstexplain the general principles upon which my invention is based.

The leading idea of inserting or introducinga gas into the kiln is tocheck combustion and to produce a thorough carbonization of thematerial, and thereby securing the highest possible percentage ofbj1-products. The so-called permanent gases which are derived from thedry distillation of wood are generally composed of from fifty-eight tosixty-four per cent. of carbonic acid, carbon monoxid, marsh-gas ormethane, ethylene, and hydrogen, and these are sucked by the injector J,operated by the air-compressor A, into the accumulating vessel C, and atthe same time the atmospheric air Which produces the injection is forcedinto this vessel,

say, in about the proportions of one part ofv gas to about one andthree-fourths parts of air, so that the air and permanent gases arethoroughly mingled before theyenter the kiln. An additional amount ofair maybe forced into the accumulator directly from the compressol` A bymeans of a pipe d2. The miugling of the gases and air produces a mixturewhich passes through the heater D. In the system the proportion ofoxygen of the air introduced will be reduced to about five to seven percentthat is to say, ot' each twenty-one parts of oxygen introduced onlyfive to seven remain uncombined, the other sixteen to fourteen partshaving united with the combustible gases-or, in other words,-

half filled with Water and which performs,

among others, the following tWo important functions: First, the mixtureof gases willbe saturated with water-vapors, so that the water willprevent the heating-coils CZ from being damaged by the heat; second, theWater in the accumulator will serve as a sort of deposit medium for thepermanent gases, which carry over mechanically a certain amount of tarfrom the vessel or vessels I. The mixture of gases goes through thecoils ZU and is heated to about 650 Fahrenheit before it enters thekiln, the pipes in the kiln serving to thoroughly distribute the gasmixture to all parts of a charge. It will be understood that thefunctions performed by the water in the accumulator are such that it isnot necessary to run the supply of Water continuously, and the water maybe4 allowed to remain in the accumulator until it has become too tui-bidfor properly performing its functions as a depository. It is thenreplaced by fresh Water; but I Wish it distinctly understood that thereneed be constant supply of Water and desire to clearly distinguish fromapparatuses in which a continuous supply of water is employed for thepurpose of deoxygenation.

By the process so far described I greatly reduce the time necessary forcarbonization and obtain a very much higher percentage of byproductsthan hitherto. Ordinarily under a supply of gases of from three hundredto five hundred cubic feet per minute and employing a charge of onehundred and twenty thousand pounds of wood, figuring a cord at fourthousand pounds of air-dried Wood, I can dispose of one charge in asshort a time as sixty hours, and will then obtain over twenty-five percent. of very best charcoal, one to two per cent. ofninety-tive-per-cent. methyl alcohol, four to five per cent. ofonehundred-per-cent. acetic acid, and seven per cent. of tar. Thesepercentages refer to the Whole amount of the charge as standard, or onehundred. The time of carbonization can be greatly reduced by increasingthe gaspressure. The gases which are derived from the glowing mass inthe kiln do not go directly into the air, but are removed from the kiln,at thebottom thereof, (see Figs. 1 and 2,) by the pipe g. VVllile thelocation of said pipe need not be as shown, I prefer to lead it from thebottom of the kiln, because this is the most eicient construction, asthe draft is downward in kilns of this description, thereby producing amore thorough and even carbonization and preventing objectionabledecomposition of the by-products. The advantage of thus proceeding willbe obvious when it is realized that a very small percentage of acetoneis produced by me, whereby I avoid the detrimental effect of a largeper- IOO IIO

IIS

centage of acetone, which is very injurious to the wood-alcohol.Recentresultshaveshown only pue-hundredth of one per cent. of acetone inthe raw Wood-alcohol. p

The gases emanating from the kiln are led into the condenser H, Wherethe by-products are condensed and pass with the permanent gases in tothe receptacle or vessel I, which, as before described, is in the natureof a Wulff bottle. The permanent gases are ordinarily returnedimmediately to the injector J and the accumulator C; but, if desired,they may be led off by a small pipej2 to asuitable gas holder.

When the carbonizing process in the kiln is completed, the kiln iscooled, the supply of d8 by raising or takingott the plates or coV- ersdi?, which normally close the connection of the flues d8 with thesurrounding air. By

thus proceeding I am enabled to cool down vthe kiln in about thirty-sixhours, whereas formerly six to seven days were required to secure thesame result. v Having described 'my invention, what I claimas new, anddesire Vto secure by Letters Patent, is

The herein-described carbonizing process which consists in mixing anexcess of airwith combustible gas, heating the mixture nnder .theexclusion of further atmospheric air in a confined space bringing theresultant' gases intofcontact with material toloe carbonized under theexclusion of atmospheric air so as to carbonize the material partly bythe heat of the gases, partly by the combustion of the hot combustiblegases introduced and partly by the combustion of the gases given offfrom the material .being carhonized.

BERNHARD ZWILLIN'GER. Witnesses:

GEO. E. MORSE,

OTTO V. SCHRENK.

